”It’s hard not to kind of get misty-eyed over this,” she said Tuesday afternoon, just hours after learning that the California State University administration and faculty union reached a tentative contract agreement after a nearly two-year dispute.

Professors, lecturers, coaches and librarians would be guaranteed a 20.7 percent pay hike over four years under the new accord.

The base salary increases will raise the average salary for a tenure track faculty member from $74,000 to $90,749 and the average salary for a full-time professor with tenure from $86,000 to $105,465 by the end of the contract period, according to the CSU.

This turn of events puts planned rolling strikes among the 23-campus CSU system on hold, which were scheduled to start next week.

”It’s a real sense of relief so we all can focus on the things that are important,” Meiggs said, adding colleagues near her office had stopped by with double-thumbs-up signs Tuesday.

The strikes, which were pending an agreement by Friday, would have been the first at the nation’s largest four-year public university, which employs more than 23,000 educators, of which about 11,000 are union members.

Union President and HSU political science professor John Travis said the tentative agreement will benefit the CSU system, students, faculty and California.

“This happened above all because the CSU faculty were willing to take a stand and were determined, united and stepped up with a huge strike vote and strong preparations to take action,” Travis said in a press release. “The faculty took a strong stand for the CSU, and for California’s public higher education system. We will continue to work for the educational integrity of the CSU.”

Tentative agreements have been signed on the issues of salary, workload, grievances, parking and appointments, which have been the most contentiously debated topics in this round of bargaining, the CFA’s Web site says.

”What’s remarkable is we were really able to achieve and address those issues,” Meiggs said, adding the “salary inversion” issue, in which junior faculty hired during the state budget crisis were being paid less than those hired this year, was resolved.

The tentative agreement must be turned into a final contract that can be ratified in a faculty vote, which is expected to occur between April 23 and May 4, the CFA said.

The accord was reached using recommendations made by an impartial fact finder as a framework, which called for a nearly 25 percent retroactive pay raise through June 2010.

The report also echoed the CFA’s argument that CSU professor’s salaries are significantly less than those of their peers at other institutions — the California Postsecondary Education Commission said CSU faculty are paid 18 percent less than comparable institution salaries around the country.

But CFA Vice President Lillian Taiz noted there remain important issues challenging the CSU system.

”Student fees will be raised by the CSU Trustees if more money is not found this spring,” she said in a press release. “Working to stem the rise in student fees will be important for CFA. Also, new policies are needed on compensation for top CSU executives as well as accountability and openness in how the CSU is managed.”

Meiggs said HSU faculty worked hard to resolve the contract issues, adding the salary hikes weren’t about teachers getting rich.

”This is all still kind of sinking in,” she said. “It’s kind of surreal.”

CSU contract details

The total pay package tentatively agreed to Tuesday, which will cost California State University system more than $400 million over four years, breaks down as follows:

* 20.7 percent in guaranteed salary increases for all faculty in the form of general salary Increases.

* 1 percent step increase (”service salary increase”) in each year of the contract; because these increases are only paid to approximately one-third of all faculty members each year, these individuals will receive an additional 2.65 percent boost to their salaries when eligible.

* $28 million set-aside to provide two new merit-based pay programs targeting both junior and senior faculty.

* An additional 1 percent in each of the last three years of the contract, contingent on receipt of additional state budget funds.